This article was written for Annabel & Grace, which is now part of Rest Less.
As I write my levels of excitement are rising to almost hysteria (luckily I have never managed to behave like an adult!). It’s going to be a very different Christmas for us this year as we off to Doha to have Christmas with Teddy, my grandson, who will be 8 months (I keep forgetting his parents will be there but they are important too!) and stopping off in Istanbul for four days beforehand. The flight leaves from Toulouse, stops in Istanbul and then on to Doha so it seemed rude not to stop en route to discover the delights of the gate to the Orient! I hope we don’t get tempted to buy a carpet…
However, another packing dilemma looms. Here in sleepy SW France it is freezing overnight with beautiful warmish, sunny days, the early morning trees are bathed in sparkling sunlight as the hoar frost clings on in the hope it will last the day. In Istanbul it is getting cold too and seems it will be rainy during our visit and in Doha it will be 26* on average. Hmm…I also have the problem of a suitcase full of presents to accommodate as well, although not many for Teddy. I have decided to spoil him more when he is old enough to understand, although I have bought him a Trunki for travelling, in the hope that it will help him be able to chose what to pack!
As an Army brat I was used to having Christmas in far flung places and often suffered the traditional roast turkey and plum pudding lunch in extreme temperatures of 40* with intense humidity, when we lived in Malaysia. My daughter and son-in-law are excellent cooks, and we know they are already planning a traditional lunch but we will at least have air conditioning and will try and ignore the palm trees waving in the garden.
Sending Christmas cards is not traditional in France and although I have bought them, I may not get around to sending them this year. On alternate years I try to donate to a charity and I have already given to the Philippines appeal this year so hope my friends will understand when that little cardboard “ho, ho, ho greeting” doesn’t drop on the mat this year.
Here, foie gras is one of the staple luxuries at Christmas, as well as oysters and a vast plateau de fruits de mer on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day is more low key. Around here we pass fields of fattening ducks and geese, who, despite the bad press about the way they are reared, are free range and content during their life. They can’t help being greedy and we often watch as they self-feed to the point of almost choking on ripe corn. We will be taking some foie gras with us…
I went to one of our nearest large towns last weekend to do some Christmas shopping. No traffic jams, we could park the car, the shops were not heaving with irritated shoppers, there weren’t any queues at the tills and everybody was pleasant and charming. I used to live near an out-of-town John Lewis in the UK, which, come December, was one of the most popular shops in the UK. Needless to say, the roads around it would grind to a halt and you would sit in the car for hours or fight for a parking space, when one eventually became available. One other wonderful thing about the Christmas season in France – you don’t have Noddy Holder blaring out from every loudspeaker! Seasons Greetings to one and all.